Videos & Rules

Pennsylvania On The Verge of Legalizing Online Gambling

Published Wednesday, June 29, 2016 -
Online-Casinos.com

The change to Pennsylvania’s online gambling legal status has taken a long time to gain some sort of traction in the American Keystone State. First introduced in 2015 by State Representative John Payne, HB 649 pushes for the regulation and legalization of online gaming to existing license holders in the state, using a similar framework implemented in New Jersey.

Now the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a bill that could lead to the legalization of online gambling and daily fantasy sports activity in Pennsylvania. The House has voted 114-85 in favour of HB 2150, which had been rejected just last week over a component regarding video gaming terminals, this element has now been removed from the approved and revised online gambling DFS bill.

If the Pennsylvania Senate decides to pass the amended legislation, land-based casinos will have the opportunity to create partnerships with approved online gambling operators to offer online casino and internet poker to residents residing in the jurisdiction.

A five year license will cost the casinos that want to operate an online gambling offering will be required to pay $8 million USD upfront, and renewal fees of $250,000 while online gaming technology partners would pay $2 million for the license to operate and $100,000 for renewals. Online gambling will be taxed at 16 percent from online revenues with 14 percent going to the state coffers and 2 percent reserved for economic development projects.

Legislation for slot gaming and mobile gambling use at the six airports in Pennsylvania, mobile gaming would be restricted to inside the airports and would not be authorized elsewhere. Pennsylvania will be the second US state to introduce a legalized online poker market, if the Senate approves the bill. DFS operators will also have the opportunity to acquire a license to operate and pay 5% tax on fantasy revenue generated by players in the state.